room to make the big mistakes

what a past couple of days this has been.

i am officially moved into my new apartment. i'm excited but it's been stressful and annoying packing and toting and unpacking and all that. but i'm hoping it'll be good once i'm settled. it was a fun feeling to come home to my own place with my groceries tonight and my neighbor just stopped by to say hello and welcome us!

here's a couple "before" photos of the new apt. the first is of the movers pulling the couch over the balcony because it wouldn't fit up the stairs. hehe.






i also went to a lake house with some friends this past weekend and got to go to a red's game last week on a beautiful night, and they won!

don'cha

i got back yesterday from a very fun and relaxing weekend in south carolina. i went with three of my friends from school to visit our friend meredith.

jill spilled her chips on the car seat and decided to just eat them.


this is how fast we were going for an hour and a half in an unexplained traffic jam.


and when we finally made it, there were lots of movies and lots of good food including a delicious breakfast prepared by meredith's new hubby! fun times. i love these girls!

thanks for the memory

my 23rd year: a summary.

well, my 23rd year began in a whirlwind of packing and arguing with the brasilian consulate in order to have my visa in time to fly out. i said goodbyes, cried a good bit, and hopped on a plane for one of the best experiences of my life with then strangers who have now become treasured friends. i came home to snow on the ground and an anxious family who didn't realize someone different would step off the plane. i had inner struggles with comfort and the materialism of the holiday season. i started working, my first non-student job, and went slightly wacky. but the wackiness was ameliorated by a now dear friend who shared much of what was constantly on my heart and mind. and then i "co-started" a small group for other confused quarter-lifers, not knowing this group would become my primary social outlet and, also, dear friends :) i began a different job, one that i could enjoy and would feel temporary, and found a volunteer outlet that looks like it may be good.

23 was full of extreme joy and deep sadness of all types. i learned a lot of lessons, about myself, my God, and his people. i changed. i made lots of new friends that i wouldn't be the same without, and grew in relationships with those i already knew and loved. overall, this year was full of the unknown in more ways than most years in the past. it was frustrating a lot and consistently good. i'm thankful for all of it.

i'm hopeful for what 24 will bring.

food glorious food

i hate when i close at work and i come home hungry. it's so bad to eat at midnight, and the only things that ever sound good are not particularly healthful.

i made an appointment to get my hair cut. i'm bored with it. any suggestions? maybe i'll be daring. this time last year i was daring and regretted, oh, for about 6 months.

The Divine Conspiracy is really good, if you were wondering.

i'm over halfway through Anna Karenina, and it's really good too. i need to try and just read one book at a time.

clearly i have nothing of substance to post.

measure in love

welp, i "signed my life away" so to speak this afternoon. and i am excited. i am now the pleased renter of apt #3 on minot avenue. it's the cutest little place, just right for 2 girls under 5'3" :) (seriously, the doorways and the shower wouldn't be conducive to anyone taller.) so that's pretty big.

the other day i was with a friend from work, and she was asking me what i'm doing. what're my plans? going back to school? management? a different job? questions like that are so hard for me, cuz i feel like such a lump answering them... well, no, i'm not looking for a better job and no i don't want to go to grad school. or i feel like a mystic... i feel like i'm supposed to wait and this is where i'm supposed to be right now. so i got all worked up about that: what AM i doing? i need to get moving on SOMETHING!

then this morning i sat in on the class for high schoolers, and the lesson was on serving an audience of one. what a lovely reminder. all the things i feel pressure to do, to have answers for that i don't right now, are pressures i put on myself to please other people. i'm worried about what my life looks like to others; and not in terms of if they see Jesus, but i don't want them to see a loser, or a slacker, or a willy nilly silly girl :) but, i really do feel like this is right right now. trust me, me and God have plenty of talks about what the heck is going on in my life. but he keeps reassuring me and giving me peace and patience, and he keeps lighting that fire in me, giving me glimpses of what's to come.

in the words of jars of clay, Jesus' blood never failed me yet. :)